This invention relates to a picnic table cover designed to protect both the table top and food located thereon from air blown dust, insects, and debris.
Protective covers for picnic tables designed to protect the table top itself are well known in the art. For example, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,270,515, there is described a cover of plastic material which is secured to the surface of the table top and picnic table seats by transverse straps which extend across the bottom of the table. Similarly, U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,295,577, 4,705,084, and 4,883,001 describe other types of table top covers which are designed to be substituted for a conventional table cloth and which are generally impervious to moisture so that after meal clean-up is facilitated. Also, U.S. Pat. No. 5,727,477 describes a rigid or semi-rigid covering for a table which is a sandwich construction of plastic laminate or foam and plywood, which is intended to rest on the table top and provide skirt members which hand downwardly from the sides and ends of the table top.
Various means of securing these prior art table top covers are described, including straps, Velcro strips, drawstrings, snaps, and the like.
None of the aforementioned devices are intended to protect food items, displayed on the table top, from insects and wind blown debris. These devices are intended to protect the table top itself.
It is also known in the prior art to provide tent like structures which surround a picnic table and are generally intended to accommodate people eating at a picnic table. The tent like structures are mesh screening or the like and are supported by a framework affixed to the table top. See for example U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,233,618, 2,790,452, and 3,307,565.
These tent like structures are cumbersome and intended to accommodate only those individuals actually sitting at the supporting picnic table. Such structures would have difficulty accommodating a buffet type picnic where people consuming the food would approach the table, fill their plates with food, and then leave the tent to eat elsewhere.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,341,672 describes a screen mounted on a table top wherein the roof of the screen is based above the table top so that items could be accommodated on the table top inside the screen. The sides of the screen depend from the table top and are weighted and presumably would be lifted by someone accessing the food displayed on the table. This device uses a supporting framework with a net draped thereover. Since the screen is merely draped over the framework insects would be free to enter the enclosure under the depending skirt of the screen, and while the supporting frame is secured to the picnic table top, the screen itself is only secured to the supporting frame at the comer posts.
It is also known to provide an individual tent member for a cutting board and such a device is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,311,813. In that device, a supporting frame is provided for a mesh tent which encloses a cutting board and presumably food items. Access to the interior of the tent like cover is provided by a port which is made be secured to the grounding net by Velcro, snaps, or a zipper. This device is intended to protect only a relatively small cutting board as its supporting framework is described as a truss structure which consists of a plurality of arcuate shaped legs of flexible material which are joined at an apex to form the supporting structure for the tent. This patent also describes a separate waterproof covering which may rest over the mesh tent to protect the interior from rain or the like.
Accordingly, there is a need for a universally adaptable protective tent like structure for a picnic table which will protect displayed food items and provide access so that individuals can, in buffet fashion, fill their plates and move on. There is also a need for such a device that is portable, light weight, and durable.
It has been discovered that such a light weight and durable table tent can be provided that will protect food items that are displayed on a picnic table while providing access to those items so that individuals can fill their plates and then close the access opening to protect the unused food items from insects, dust, and other wind blown debris. The table tent of this invention is preferably supported by an aluminum pole framework wherein aluminum poles similar to hollow tent poles are used and interconnected by press fitting in the conventional fashion to form four, three dimensional interconnected boxes. The supporting structure preferably has rectangular vertical and horizontal cross-sections. A tent like mesh covering is provided which overlies the supporting box like framework on the top and sides. A mesh base is provided and preferably a plastic bottom guard with drain holes overlies the net or mesh base. The net or mesh base is interconnected to the edges of the depending sides of the overlying tent by conventional fasteners such as Velcro. The top surface of the tent is provided with preferably three large clear plastic windows secured by Velcro to the surrounding mesh so that each window can be opened for access to the interior of the tent structure. Also preferably a pair of clear plastic compartments are provided for storing utensils, napkins, bread, and the like.
Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide a portable mesh tent like structure adapted to rest on the surface of a picnic table for enclosing food items displayed on the picnic table and provide access to such items.
It is another object of this invention to provide a table tent structure for displaying items on the picnic wherein an internal supporting structure of interconnected hollow poles is provided and an overlying mesh structure supported by the poles protects food items enclosed therein from insects, dust, and wind blown debris.
It is yet another object of this invention to provide a table tent structure adapted to rest on a conventional picnic table wherein food items displayed within the structure are fully enclosed within a see-through tent and access is provided through clear plastic windows, mutually spaced along the roof of the tent.
It is yet another object of this invention to provide a portable structure wherein a framework can be assembled from interconnected poles to define a box having a horizontal base and roof thereover with interconnected vertical sides wherein food items displayed within the tent are fully enclosed by a protective mesh with access windows provided in the roof of the tent.
These and other objects will become readily apparent with reference to the drawings and following description wherein: